WATCH: Trump Says of Stopping ‘Send Her Back’ Chants at North Carolina Rally: ‘I Think I Did. I Started Speaking Very Quickly.’

C-SPAN

As outcry mounts against the racist chants of his supporters at a Wednesday night rally in North Carolina, President Donald Trump attempted to distance himself from the moment that horrified Americans across the country.

While taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, Trump claimed that he tried to stop his supporters’ cries of “send her back,” referring to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), by “speaking very quickly.”

Watch below:

But upon closer inspection of the tape, Trump waits nearly 15 seconds as the chant builds before beginning to speak.

In addition to allowing the chants of his supporters to carry on, Trump arguably incited it with racist tweets in the days before, calling for four Democratic congresswomen of color—including Congresswoman Omar—to “go back” to their countries. Omar escaped violence in Somalia as a child before making a home in the United States as a fully naturalized American citizen.

Trump has many more rallies to hold before the fateful night in 2020 when we’ll know who the next president is. It remains to be seen whether he’ll stop the next round of racist chants trumpeting from stands full of his supporters.

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Evan Brechtel

Evan is a writer and editor based in New York. In addition to his work with Second Nexus, he freelances for a variety of sites addressing topics of queer culture and history. You can find his other work at www.evanbrechtel.net. Twitter: @EvanBrechtel